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A gate to the old town; if you pass through it you're at Sarandí, Montevideo's main pedestrian street. This is one of the few remaining parts of the old city wall.
The Gateway of the Citadel is the only remaining piece of the military fortress that defended the walled city of Montevideo. The Citadel of Montevideo was a military fortress built by the Spanish in 1741 and demolished 1877. Its gateway was disassembled brick by brick and relocated to a technical school building, which saved it from being lost, in 1959 it was moved again and reconstructed in its original location, next to Plaza Independencia, in Ciudad Vieja.
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Glass-framed office building at the western end of the square with a terrifying number of air conditioning units.
Displaying works by one of the most prominent Uruguayan artists, the painter and sculptor Joaquín Torres García (1874-1949).
This large monument in the Plaza Independencia pays tribute to José Gervasio Artigas, one of the heroes of the Uruguayan Independence. Under the monument is the mausoleum, which is open on the weekends. It contains an urn with his ashes and two honor guards keeping watch.
Basically, a work of modern art, graffiti painted fences and walls, all at a side alley that should probably be avoided after dusk. It reads "Honouring diversity is honouring life; Montevideo is for the respect of all identities and sexual orientations" and was erected in 2005. It's South America's first monument dedicated to sexual diversity. Other places of interest to gay people include the Edificio Liberaij, where two gay Argentine bank robbers (featured in the 1998 movie Plata Quemada) died in 1965.
The square at the end of 18 de Julio Ave., with the latter being the main commercial artery of the city. On the last Saturday of September, all the museums and historical places of interest around the Plaza Independencia open for free to the public. There is also a large "Murga," or a traditional South American parade in which all the Uruguayan political parties take part. The event is known as El Día del Patrimonio, the Day of Heritage. On the middle of the square there is a statue of general José Artigas, and under it, his mausoleum.
The current presidential office, next to the former. The Executive Tower was first planned as a courthouse in the 1960s, the project was halted several times until the house was finalized as the presidential office in 2009.